Thrifty Thursday

Andy Williams fans take note: There are a million Andy Williams albums at the thrift store on West Broad Street. A. Freakin'. Million. And my DH just happens to be an Andy Williams fan. Seriously. No, he's not 70. I tell him all the time that I married the oldest 42 year old around. He's just a good old fashioned, small town guy. And I love that about him. So I found these today for $.90 each at the thrift store and thought they would make a good V-Day gift for my man. It will make him happy, and it cost less than $4. I also scored some Julie Andrew albums! I snatched those up quicker than you can say "My Fair Lady Soundtrack"! Love Julie Andrews. I also picked up these beauties at the Volunteers of America shop:

They are super heavy. Don't they look oh-so-shabby-chic? I thought so. I'm not sure if I'm going to leave them as is or paint them white. At first I thought they were silver, but they are stamed "made in China" on the bottom and I couldn't find any type of silver marking, so I don't think they are. Not sure what I'm going to do with them, but I love them! I found a few other goodies while thrifting with Shannon, like a cool wood picture frame that I'm going to paint off white and put chicken wire behind. Yes, chicken wire. I happen to have some leftover from when I had to keep a bunny out of my garden last summer! And I scored a couple of cool milk glass items for super cheap. And I found a couple of milk glass pieces that rocked. I'm trying to listen to Shannon's advice when she says not to go crazy at thrift stores. Her point is that, even though it's cheap, you don't want to end up with a bunch of stuff that you don't do anything with "just because". But it's tough. You also have to consider the real cost, or final price, of an item. If it costs you more after you buy the craft supplies (paint, etc...) to pimp something out, it may have made more sense to just buy it from etsy. So I try to think of what I have at home to fix things up as I'm considering my purchases. The real fun of Thrify Thursdays, though, is spending time with my friend, Shannon. She's so smart and funny and we always have a great time together! Thank you, Shannon, for introducing me to the fabulous world of thrifting!

Craft Tuesday

This morning I finalized my Valentine's Day mantel. Notice the difference? Here's the before pic:

Right! I added some felt hearts (using leftover felt from another craft project) to the grapevine wreath. I thought that the wreath needed a little somethin' somethin'. I downloaded some heart templates (just google "free heart templates") and cut them out lickety split.

You might say that I've been a little obsessed lately about decorating the mantel. It's all because of Pinterest. They post such great ideas that I just HAVE to copy them! Speaking of Pinterest.... I saw this the other day:

7 days of love notes and treats for Valentine's week. Seriously great idea. I filled up a pill box with candy and goodies and downloaded a **free** sheet of love quotes from thedatingdivas website. I'm really happy with the way it turned out. Totally awesome Valentine's Day gifts don't have to cost a fortune! I've been working on a "52 Reasons Why I Love You" deck of cards, but I can't seem to find a template for the cards that I like. Which means that I will have to make one of my own, and I'm HORRIBLE at doing that kind of thing. So maybe I'll just bust out my scrapbooking skillz to finish this one. I was hoping to have that completed today, but it looks like that will be a project for another day! What have you crafted lately?

Thrifty Thursday

I meant to post this yesterday, but was a little busy chasing a puppy around the house. Yikes! They require sooo much attention! Yesterday was a great day. I discovered thrift shops. Honestly, I've never been a big fan of them. Never been to one, and never thought I'd like them. (Used stuff? Yuk! No thanks!) But, during breakfast with my friend, Shannon, I convinced her to take me. We had time to swing by one and guess what??? I LOVED IT! I scored a great punch bowl set (with 12 super cute little glasses). Shannon and I are on a 2-woman quest to bring the punch bowl back into style. I'll post a picture of it when I get it all cleaned up. I'm thinking the next bookclub that I host needs punch. I also picked up this rug for a couple of bucks:

It reminds me of my grandma, and I needed a rug at the back door. Doesn't really go with the decor in that room, but it's cute. And I also got this mail sorter for the office. It had a few marks on the front of it, but I liked it because 1) it kinda goes with the shabby chic feel I like and 2) I love me some organizing tools!

But I didn't like the pen marks, and I wanted to jazz it up a little, so I did this:

I had some of this map scrapbook paper, which I thought coordinated with my (very small) globe collection. I am not thrilled with the result, but I showed Tom 2 other options (both floral), and he thought I should stick with the map paper. And, since it's his house too, I kept it. Shannon got some really cool things as well. She picked up a cheese plate and dome and a doily. She loves doilies. I would have purchased the cheese dome, but I have several and really just couldn't justify it. Even if it was practically a steal! So I'm all for thriftin' now! We're going again next week. Can't wait!

Latest Addiction

I am in love. I think about it morning and night. I toss and turn at night, my mind a flutter with ideas. Yep, that's right. I've (somewhat) recently discovered Pinterest. It's an online site that lets you bookmark or "pin" things you like. You create boards to help you catagorize your interests. And it's really, really cool. There are a million ideas from people way craftier than I am, so I am thrilled when they post cute and simple crafts. Because I love to steal their ideas. I wish I knew about this when I was wedding planning last year! Today I busted out this cute banner that a blogger that I really like had posted (simple as that blog):

I hung the banner on the mirror that sits on the mantel and added these pimped out LOVE letters:

I covered cardboard letters from JoAnn's with V-Day themed scrapbook papers. It was a super inexpensive project and pretty easy. I was inspired, of course, by another crafter who posted something very similar. I'm thinking that I could even do HO HO HO for Christmas. Wouldn't that be adorable?

Pretty cute mantel, don't you think? I think it still needs a little something.... Maybe a dash of red (felt flower or heart, maybe?) on the grapevine wreath.

I also saw a frame similar to this one on Pinterest. I made it when the girls were visiting, intending to save it for Valentine's Day. But my hubby had a rough day yesterday, so I decided to put it on his bedside table as a surprise. He loved it. You simply use a dry erase marker to change out your reasons. If you haven't been introduced to Pinterest, do yourself a favor and check it out. You won't be disappointed!